The present application relates to a microparticle analyzing apparatus and a method of displaying data obtained through a measurement by using the microparticle analyzing apparatus. More particularly, the application relates to a technique for detecting a light emitted from a microparticle, and analyzing a kind of light thus emitted, and the like.
In general, when a biologically-relevant microparticle such as a cell, a microbe or a liposome is analyzed, a flow cytometry (flow cytometer) is utilized. This technique, for example, is described in a non-patent literary document of “Additional Volume of Cell Engineering Experimental Protocol Series Flow Cytometry Capable of being Manipulated with Freedom,” supervised by Takamitsu Nakauchi Shujunsha Co., Ltd. 2nd edition published on Aug. 31, 2006. The flow cytometry is based on a method in which a laser beam (excited light) having a specific wavelength is radiated to microparticles which are caused to flow in a line within a flow path, and fluorescences or scattered lights emitted from the microparticles are detected, thereby analyzing the plural microparticles one by one. With the flow cytometry, lights detected by respective photodetectors are converted into electrical signals to be quantified, and a statistical analysis is carried out for the resulting electrical signals thus quantified, thereby making it possible to judge kinds, sizes, structures, etc. of individual microparticles.
In addition, in recent years, in the flow cytometry, a multicolor analysis using plural fluorescent dyes has been in widespread use. This flow cytometry, for example, is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-230333 and JP-T-2008-500558. Each of the existing flow cytometries normally includes plural light sources corresponding to different wavelengths, respectively, and plural detectors for detecting lights emitted from respective dyes. On the other hand, since a fluorescent dye has a spectrum, when plural fluorescent dyes are used in one measurement as with the multicolor analysis, lights from the respective fluorescent dyes other than an objective fluorescent dye are leaked to the detectors, thereby reducing the analysis precision. In order to cope with such a situation, with the existing flow cytometer, in order to extract only the optical information from the objective fluorescent dye, mathematical correction, that is, fluorescence correction is carried out when the lights detected by using the respective photodetectors are converted into the electrical signals to be quantified.